Zhao, Y.-y., 2020. A high-resolution summary of Cambrian to Early Triassic marine invertebrate biodiversity. Science 367, 272-277.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6475/272.abstract Abstract: One great challenge in understanding the history of life is resolving the influence of environmental change on biodiversity. Simulated annealing and genetic algorithms were used to synthesize data from 11,000 marine fossil species, collected from more than 3000 stratigraphic sections, to generate a new Cambrian to Triassic biodiversity curve with an imputed temporal resolution of 26 ± 14.9 thousand years. This increased resolution clarifies the timing of known diversification and extinction events. Comparative analysis suggests P that partial pressure of carbon dioxide ( co ) is the only environmental factor that seems to display a secular 2 pattern similar to that of biodiversity, but this similarity was not confirmed when autocorrelation within that time series was analyzed by detrending. These results demonstrate that fossil data can provide the temporal and taxonomic resolutions necessary to test (paleo)biological hypotheses at a level of detail approaching those of long-term ecological analyses. Editor's Summary: A finer record of biodiversity. We have pressing, human-generated reasons to explore the influence of environmental change on biodiversity. Looking into the past can not only inform our understanding of this relationship but also help us to understand current change. Paleontological records depend on fossil availability and predictive modeling, however, and thus tend to give us a picture with large temporal jumps, millions of years wide. Such a scale makes it difficult to truly understand the action of environmental forces on et al. ecological processes. Enabled by a supercomputer, Fan used machine learning to analyze a large marine ∼ Paleozoic dataset, creating a record with time intervals of only 26,000 years (see the Perspective by Wagner). This fine-scale resolution revealed new events and important details of previously described patterns.

Fan, M., Andrade, G.F.S., Brolo, A.G., 2020. A review on recent advances in the applications of surface-enhanced Raman scattering in analytical chemistry. Analytica Chimica Acta 1097, 1-29.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003267019314126 This review is focused on recent developments of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) applications in Analytical Chemistry. The work covers advances in the fabrication methods of SERS substrates, including nanoparticles immobilization techniques and advanced nanopatterning with metallic features. Recent insights in quantitative and sampling methods for SERS implementation and the development of new SERS-based approaches for both qualitative and quantitative analysis are discussed. The advent of methods for pre- concentration and new approaches for single-molecule SERS quantification, such as the digital SERS procedure, has provided additional improvements in the analytical figures-of-merit for analysis and assays based on SERS. The use of metal nanostructures as SERS detection elements integrated in devices, such as microfluidic systems and optical fibers, provided new tools for SERS applications that expand beyond the laboratory environment, bringing new opportunities for real-time field tests and process monitoring based on SERS. Finally, selected examples of SERS applications in analytical and bioanalytical chemistry are discussed. The breadth of this work reflects the vast diversity of subjects and approaches that are inherent to the SERS field. The state of the field indicates the potential for a variety of new SERS-based methods and technologies that can be routinely applied in analytical laboratories.

Fang, L., Lee, S., Lee, S.-A., Hahm, D., Kim, G., Druffel, E.R.M., Hwang, J., 2020. Removal of refractory dissolved organic carbon in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. Scientific Reports 10, 1213.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-57870-6 The removal mechanism of refractory deep-ocean dissolved organic carbon (deep-DOC) is poorly understood. The Amundsen Sea Polynya (ASP) serves as a natural test basin for assessing the fate of deep-DOC when it is supplied with a large amount of fresh-DOC and exposed to strong solar radiation during the polynya opening in austral summer. We measured the radiocarbon content of DOCin the water column on the western Amundsen